MSC Parish Suva Fiji gives their school a facelift in record time

In March of this year (2024), I took up the appointment of Parish Priest of one of the three MSC Parishes in Fiji. After two decades in the USA, I returned to a country that had undergone many changes, and I had changed, too. St Agnes was my first parish assignment after ordination in 1991. The children I had baptised are now adults and have families. Many of my older parishioners are still around, and many have moved on or passed away. St. Agnes is a place where I have many good memories.

St. Agnes Church is located in Samabula, Suva, the capital of Fiji. We MSC have been at the parish since 1985, when Fr Lambert Somar, MSC of the MSC Indonesian Province, became the first MSC after the Columban Fathers. With the parish, Fr. Lambert also inherited St. Agnes Primary School, which was a block from the church. The school was established in 1960 by the Sisters of Compassion. The school’s manager is the Parish Priest of St Agnes Church. St Agnes Primary School is a co-educational primary school that educates 873 children from kindergarten to Year 8. St. Agnes is its patron saint, and the school motto is “Christ Our Light.” The example of St. Agnes and the motto guide and maintain the standards for the educational process. The feast day of St Agnes is celebrated on January 21 each year.

St Agnes Primary School provides education for children from the neighbouring communities such as Muslim League, Nabua Housing, Cunningham, Tamavua, Tacirua, Kinoya, Nabua Village, Vatuwaqa, Wailoku, Caubati, Veisida, Nadera, Nadawa and more. Students are from both formal and informal settlements. The school caters to low-income families in the surrounding area where drugs, gangs, and crime are high.

My first visit to the school left me speechless as it was the rainy season, and many classrooms had leaking roofs and classroom ceilings on the brink of caving in on students. Several of our school buildings, over 70 years old, have not been adequately maintained and badly needed repairs, including racked tiles and electrical and plumbing problems. Of real concern was the growth of black mould in some classrooms due to the moisture and leaks. If continuously exposed to its spores, black mould can be deadly to humans, especially children. These were priority concerns for our teachers’ and students’ health and wellbeing. In addition, there was the issue of trash and broken desks, chairs, timber, metal grates, and pipes lying all over the place. All told, the building issues at St Agnes Primary were like a ticking time bomb that needed immediate diffusing to have a safe environment. The Parish’s only choice was to take action and do the repairs as soon as possible. The parish would carry out the repairs during the two weeks of the May school holidays.

The problems facing St Agnes were the same for just about every non-government school in the country. Four coups and two decades of bad governance had given rise to a series of military-backed governments with draconian, divisive policies bordering on dictatorship that contributed to the general malaise, fear and misery. The government promised everything but did not deliver. For schools, they promised free education for children and free buses to school. The government allocated dismal funds towards building upkeep and maintenance. Meanwhile, school buildings continue to deteriorate rapidly, while our children and teachers (who spend six hours plus) five days a week continue exposure to mould, dampness, and other health risks that could be avoided.

The current government is much more democratic and is returning responsibility to the owners of the schools. Still, we must contend with two decades of behavioural modifications, especially with the entitled “freebee” mindset.

The school roll of 783 students means we have quite a few classes bursting at the seams. There is barely enough floor space, with too many children packed into small classrooms. Some classes have from 48 to 50 students. There are two streamed classes from years one to six and three streams of years seven and eight. Such conditions are just not conducive to a proper learning environment. They place enormous pressure on students and teachers. The teacher-to-student ratio means that children’s capacity for learning is greatly compromised as they will not get the necessary teacher’s attention.

Renovations and repair work at St Agnes Primary School occurred during the first term school holidays (04/05/24 – 20/05/24). The Parish took upon itself this responsibility as the school was in bad shape and risked being closed down by the Occupational Health & Safety (OHS) for non-compliance.

Our initial plans were for a modest budget of $15,000 to remove tiles and paint the double-storey concrete building with seven classrooms, a library, and a school hall. But from day one, we decided to go out and give the entire school a facelift. Foremost on our minds was the health and safety of the 783 children and 20-plus teachers and staff. They deserve a school environment that is clean, safe and conducive for learning and the pursuit of knowledge and truth centred on “Christ Our Light”. We wanted to ensure that when the teachers and students returned in the second term, they would enter a completely revamped, clean, renewed school environment.

Work began on Saturday, May 4, with a volunteer force of 10 men and concluded on May 20. The 11 communities of the Parish would each take turns cooking lunches, afternoon tea, and dinner for the workforce. They went all out to keep the workers well-fed and hydrated. Work would begin at 8:00 am and conclude at 10:00 pm. We had 13 days before school reopened.

On day one, when faced with the time constraints and enormity of the task, one of our Parish Leadership Team (PLT) members asked me: “Father, how are we going to get this massive task done in two weeks and with so few?” I replied in the words I heard many times during my army service: “We are going to fight this battle with this team we have…we do our part and leave the rest to God.” These words proved prophetic as, during the 13 days, more parishioners, encouraged by the small group of volunteers, would trickle into joining the work.

Our first task was the removal of the accumulated trash. This job took several days as there was so much trash and old broken desks, chairs, lumber, roofing irons, metal pipes, metal grills, old appliances, and broken concrete strewn everywhere. Three dumpster skiffs were hauled out of the property while about the same amount was burnt by the roadside. The next task was to remove the vinyl tiles from the five bottom classrooms and the concrete-block library. This task was the most time-consuming and challenging as the tiles had cemented onto the concrete floors. It took more than a week to get all the tiles removed. On Monday, May 13 (a public holiday) and Saturday, May 18, over 50 men, women and children from the parish came to attack the tiles with shovels, hammers, chippers and scrapers. This same force would join for two days to paint the entire school.

It was most encouraging to see students as young as class one and two with paint brushes painting classrooms, doing odd chores, and loving it. It was a proud indication that the Parish has taken full responsibility for its school.

On May 2, the beginning of term two of school, the teachers and students entered the renovated, newly painted, clean school. All this was done by a hard-working team of parish volunteer workforce, ably assisted by professional builders from Rapid Works Construction Company. Rapid Works is owned by David Qiolevu (a St Agnes graduate). His work crew volunteered to work from 5.00 pm – 10 pm Monday – on Fridays and from 8:00 am – 10:00 pm for two Saturdays and the public holiday (May 13). The professional work crew would handle even more technical tasks while the parish team did the tile removals, cleaning, painting and water blasting.

The workforce completed the renovation on a modest budget of $30,512.39 for materials alone. We saved about the same amount as a volunteer workforce bore the entire work. The volunteers put in 2,450 hours of labour over 13 days. On the conservative side, this saved us an estimated labour cost of $40,000.00. Our volunteers succeeded against formidable odds of possible closure due to OHS non-compliance issues. Today, St. Agnes School inspires and is the envy of many other schools. It is a truly remarkable and proud achievement.

St Agnes Parish would like to acknowledge and thank our generous donors and partners in this massive task. In the name of the Priests and parishioners of St Agnes Parish and the teachers and 783 students of St Agnes Primary School, we acknowledge and say thank you to Mr. Mahen Nair of Rosy Cakes, Caritas Fiji, David Qiolevu and Rapid Works, St. Agnes School Management, Yvonne Brekerfield’s group of Ex Scholars, the 11 communities of the Parish and last but not least, the MSC Parish priests, Parish Leadership.

Ioane Sigarara, MSC